Christmas Eve's Broken Tree
by golfer
Summary: Wario hates Christmas, but he's not the typical scrooge.  What happens when a valuable gift catches the greedy monster's eye?  Read on to find out.  Done in 2 days, hope the story's not lame, so please leave a review, I hope it's no flame.


**There are a million references in this story. Enjoy. And Merry Christmas, all!**

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"T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that Saint Nickolas would soon be-"

"BOWSER!"

"What?" Bowser dropped the microphone and ran away as Master Hand shooed him away. He gripped the microphone, as he did each day, with the top in the palm of his hand where his mouth seemed to be.

"Sorry about that. Good morning, smashers," Master Hand greeted in his Northern accent. His voice boomed throughout the mansion, as loudspeakers that were tied to the microphone were hung in every hallway, and in every room. It was a safety and convenience feature. If anything happened, every smasher could be contacted within a moment. Master Hand, more often than not, though, just gave the morning news. "Today is Christmas eve, so I hope you got your gifts for someone special today. No brawls are scheduled, and the brawl room is shut down today and tomorrow. The weather today is a hundred degrees farenheight, so please don your coats! And as a reminder, get to bed early, children. Santa Clause will be coming late tonight. Finland has been having some storms lately, so his sleigh might be delayed, but he's pretty fast. That is all."

Peach stared out the window at the endless grasses of Smash Planet. She could see pretty far, being on the tenth story of the mansion, but up to the horizon, where the sky kissed the grass, there was nothing interesting to be found. Beautiful, yes. Interesting or unique. Grass wasn't.

"Mario..." Peach sighed. "I miss the snow...I miss the wonderful weather..." Peach sulked back in her seat, sighing once more.

"I know, princess!" Mario agreed, laying his head on Peach's shoulder. "It's always a hundred degrees here...or more...it's too hot to even go outside..." he heard Peach sigh, and this time, as a way to agree, he did too. Peach gave Mario a kiss on the cheek, causing Mario's face to get hot. Mario covered his face in embarrassment, not of the kiss, but due to his reactionary blush that began ever since the beginning.

"I miss the Mushroom Kingdom...it's not Christmas without the snow..." Peach giggled at the word snow, her head filled with various memories of Mario and Luigi, but mostly Mario, and her in the snow, enjoying it. It really wasn't Christmas without the snow. It was what Peach missed most about the Mushroom Kingdom.

"I know..." Mario consoled, looking out the window and not taking his eyes from it. "But we can't go back now...you know this." Mario stopped to take a sigh. "But you are right...I miss it all too."

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The mansion was pretty much empty. That was Master Hand's gift from the smashers; they all postponed their shopping till the eve so that Master Hand could enjoy a day away from "He hit me!" or "He edited my records!" or "That cheater! I'll kill him!" No. None of that. He put his fingers on his desk with his wrist in his chair; the equivalent of people putting their feet up.

"This is the life..." Master Hand muttered, stretching and snuggling himself deeper into his cushioned chair. He stayed still for a full minute, enjoying the sound he yearned for most; silence. Nothing stirred in his office but himself. It was a day to relax, along with Christmas, when he actually enjoyed being with the smashers. But today, he thought, I'm alone.

Except for always one.

As if on cue, Wario "the Grinch" Catallonni, as he was called by the others, burst through the door, seeming to have opened the door a lot harder than what was necessary. He did that a lot, and a dent on the wall behind the door showed it. Wario was a short man, and moreso, and angry man. He always walked as if he was a child stomping when his parents refused him a toy. Wario was a large man, but not in height, so stomping around made the ground shake ever so slightly. Master Hand, being ten times his size, barely noticed, but he did hear the door slamming open.

"What is it, Wario...?" Master Hand asked, suddenly sounding exhausted. Wario's face remained in a harsh frown.

"It's the holidays..." Wario moaned, leaning his fat body on Master Hand's desk. With a growl, Master Hand sat back in his chair, his palm/face facing Wario's angry face.

"So go buy a gift or something...go read A Brawl Carol or some other story by that golfer guy...I don't care..." Master Hand suggested, monotonously, leaning back in his creaky chair. Wario's face didn't change a bit, running Master Hand's patience thin. He wasn't about to let Wario ruin the only day he had for himself.

"AH! Who cares? Why bother with this holiday...?"

"Wario-"

"Woe is me..." Wario whined, sitting in the black leather chair that sat in front of the Hand's desk. Master Hand grabbed Wario by his overalls, surprising Wario as he let out a cry. Master Hand, with the smasher between two of his fingers, laconically carried him out into the hallway that was in front of his office.

"Stay out, Scrooge!" Master Hand advised, throwing Wario at the wall. He slid down the wall, growling all the way down as bits of drool and rotten teeth stuck to the rough wall. "Go play outside, or read those stories that I told you, or join the other smashers...but stay out of my office on Christmas eve, m'kay?" Wario turned around and stood up, only to see the closing of Master Hand's door in his face. Wario's face turned beet red as he waved his fist at the door.

"Christmas...bah..." Wario spat as he trudged away.

* * *

The large tree in the open room was magnificently built. It wasn't a real tree; no real pine tree could grow so large; it was rather a plastic built to look just like a real Christmas tree.

The smashers gathered around after many, many hours of Christmas shopping for the next day. Many of them, even Bowser and Ganondorf, carried around massive, massive bags full of gifts that overflowed and spilled with each step on the polished floor. Samus, her power suit painted green, red, and with a large, golden cross spray-painted on her back, plugged the many cords into the many outlets. A fire hazard, yeah, but they didn't really care. As soon as Samus plugged in the lights, they flickered on as every smasher minus Wario watched in amazement. Green lights here, blue lights there, red lights over there, and white lights added on for good measure.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Ike marveled to the smashers. "Me and Marth here managed to carry about ten thousand of these here from the store. The other ten thousand thta are on the tree now were from Master Hand." As if on cue, the smashers watched as Marth crawled, completely exhausted, from the door. "Oh yeah...I also had to carry him a few times."

"Me and Ganondorf," began Bowser, who had painted his skin red to compliment his green shell. Mario giggled a bit, but he covered his mouth with his hand; it wouldn't be good to start a fight now, he thought. Bowser, to gain the floor, shoved Ike out of the way. Ike tumbled to the ground and glared at the Koopa King. "We got us some popcorn-"

"But this buffoon ate it..." Ganondorf sighed. Bowser's red paint masked his blush.

The smashers broke into conversation, talking about the day and such. Bowser and Ganondorf argued about the popcorn.

"You should have not buttered and salted it!" Bowser accused, putting a claw to Ganondorf's chest plate.

"Oh yeah? You should not have eaten it AND the needle!"

"Is that gonna have to come out when I...go?"

"Oh yes it will." To Ganondorf's response, Bowser shed a small tear and grimaced.

Many Smashers rustled under the massive tree. It truly was massive, and while some smashers tried to throw the lights on the tree, it was quite a behemoth of a task. Sonic, knowing full well that his speed could make it easier, grabbed a bunch of lights while nobody was looking, and raced as fast as he could go around the tree. He wasn't watching, but he could hear smashers screaming and groaning, yet he wouldn't stop; he was almost done, after all!

"Sonic! Really?" Zelda moaned, Link helping her up. Zelda was dressed in a Christmas-themed dress, and she didn't notice that a bit of mud stained the spot where she fell on her butt. Nobody else who noticed would dare say a word. Link was oblivious, involved more in his chivalrous efforts to help the lady up.

"Hey, come on, guys..." Sonic gasped, panting noticeably and speaking with a weak voice. "I only broke a few of you guys' bones! Besides...the lights are up..."

The smashers gasped when they stared up at the tree. They scanned with their eyes, starting with the ten foot tall glorious angel perched proudly at the top. Ornaments, many of them several pounds, littered the tree in a wide assortment of colors. Some smashers, such as Luigi who got migraines often, had to cover his eyes; he was looking at about 20,000 lights. Samus was okay; her visor acted like sunglasses.

"Who wants to sing?" Sonic asked everybody, raising his hands up. He took the lead. "Oh come...all ye FAAAAAAAI-" the nearest smasher, Meta Knight, grabbed Sonic and covered his mouth. The rest of the smashers heard Sonic's displaced, tone-deaf voice and wanted to hear no more of it.

The smashers buried themselves underneath the tree, stuffing their many presents deep underneath it. Wario himself, though, was not amongst the crowd; he was sleeping, his eyes randomly blinking open from the commotion. Suddenly, Wario gasped, and his eyes broke open as a golden object caught his eye. Peach was holding a medium sized box, wrapped in Santa-Clause themed paper. A bit of it was torn, and what Wario saw was a small, golden corner poking out of it. Wario kept his eye on it, frustrated by the other Smashers placing their presents right in front, blocking the view.

"Mama mia..." Wario said to himself, wiping the drool from his chin. "Christmas is a nice time, after all...hehehe..."

* * *

So t'was truly the night before Christmas, and all was quiet, even the loud Donkey Kong made not such a riot. The children all slept, waiting for morning, and even the adults fell asleep without warning. T'was an ample opportunity for a large grouch, to put a precious gift into his pouch...

Samus and Marth consoled Lucas, who had a fear of Santa Clause, and everybody knew it. "I don't want him to come...what if he mistakes me for a cookie and eats me?" Tears welled up in Lucas's eyes as he put his head into Samus's chest. Samus patted his back, feeling a bit awkward; she had never consoled a child before. "Or worse...what if he sits on me?" Lucas let out a quick scream before beating on Samus's shoulders. He shook as tears stained her Zero Suit, which is what she wore to bed night after night.

Wario snuck through the hallway. He heard the muffled noise of Lucas crying, and Samus and Marth attempting to console him. He would have to move quietly. He took each step very carefully, leaning on his knees which made an annoying cracking sound; maybe doctor Mario was right about going on that diet, he thought. Wario controlled his breathing, keeping it quiet as he tiptoed past the only room awake in the mansion.

"Heheh..." Wario chuckled under his breath, making his way towards the stairs that led to the tree. "Gold...mine...soon..."

"Grah...damn...where is this gold?" Wario muttered under his breath as he recklessly punched, kicked, and bit his way through piles and piles of gifts. It was ironic; he was so quiet in speaking to himself, and so quiet picking up gifts, but he wasn't so gentle in throwing them to random places behind him.

A red gift flew from his right hand, and a yellow flew from his left. He kicked one that he knew was a soccer ball, and he punched one he knew was something glass. He smirked a bit when the glass shattered; it filled him with a sense of accomplishment and a warmth within. Perhaps that was what Christmas was ab-

There it is!

Wario saw the golden gift, wrapped in the paper that only served to hide it from his eyes. Wario, in one fell swoop, ripped the paper from the gift, and he almost fainted.

The gold he held in his hand was shining like the sun, and Wario could smell the certain scent; he knew it was real. All real gold. The box was nothing more than gold. Greed in his eyes, Wario ripped open the box and saw a folded piece of paper, written inside as being Peach's girlish handwriting.

_Dear Mario..._

_ Remember when it snowed like crazy on Christmas Day back in the Mushroom Kingdom? I could look into your blue eyes for only a minute before I realized that you miss it. It's not Christmas unless it's white, Mario..."_

Wario laughed, and continued reading.

_Anyways, I remembered how much you missed the Mushroom kingdom. I didn't know what to buy, so I had the toads engrave something special on the bottom of this box. We all worked hard on it, and we made a picture. It might not make sense, but it was a labor of love, which is what Christmas is all about. _

_Love,_

_ Peach_

Wario stared at the golden box in his hand, illuminated by the glow of the moon coming from the windows scattered throughout the room. He looked around at the scattered presents, some torn open, that lay on the floor all around him. Wario only had one thing to say. He couldn't muster anymore words; the guilt held his heart.

"What have I become?" Wario asked himself, not taking his eyes off the golden package. Nevertheless, he stuck the golden package in his pants, and shuffled up the stairs, staying as quiet as he could. He didn't kick presents aside or punch anything. He silently shuffled his way to his room.

* * *

"Looks like a trainwreck..." Samus commented sadly, scanning the room. The smashers had come down in a pack to the Christmas tree, only to find half the presents torn apart and torn open. The smashers who's gifts were destroyed were devastated, and it was evident.

"Who could do such a thing...to vandalize this and parts of our tree on Christmas!" Master Hand exclaimed, his...figure, now in the shape of a fist. Peach's face was in her hands; tears streamed down as Mario put his hand on her shaking shoulders. The other smashers didn't notice; about a thousand lights had been destroyed, and they were cleaning up. That, and the plastic branches had been broken off, and that needed to be cleaned up as well.

"Oh, Mario..." Peach sobbed, taking quick, choppy breaths. "I...had something custom made...and it was stolen! It took...me months!" Peach was unintelligible from that point; her sobs were too great.

Wario looked in from the smallest window with the sack over his shoulder. His arms were shaking; the sack was very heavy, and were ready to burst from the seams with random objects. "It's show time, I guess..."

Suddenly, the window broke, and the smashers were alarmed, so much that they all jumped away in terror. Standing amidst the broken glass, Wario, with a santa hat on his head, stood proudly as the snowy wind blew his hat around.

"WARIO!" Master Hand shouted, pointing at him. "Why now? Can't you see that we have enough on our hands?" Wario payed no attention, as many smashers flocked around him. Wario had a smile on his face, something that surprised many smashers that actually knew Wario; without stealing something, the kleptomaniac didn't like smiling.

Lucas, however, began to cry. "It's SANTA!" he screamed, and screamed, as he hid his head beneath his hands and shook. No smasher payed attention to him; they expected it deep inside.

"Wow..." Snake mused, staring at a lighter. "A lighter...I can light my cigarettes again!"

"Now now, Snake..." Master Hand corrected, grabbing the lighter from Snake. "You know that smash mansion has an anti-smoking rule!" Snake put on his pleading eyes and used his most charming voice.

"C'mon, Master Hand..." snake said. "Just one smoke..."

"Fine, Snake...it is Christmas...go ahead."

While all the smashers were happy with their new gifts from Wario, Peach and Mario, Peach still crying, were not. Wario looked at Peach, then his butt, where the golden box was stuffed.

"I don't want to..." Wario muttered. As he said this to himself, the cries seemed to got louder, yet no smasher, all obsessed with their gifts, could hear. Wario held his right hand with his left, divided on whether to do IT.

"Peach!" Wario hollered. Peach and Mario looked at Wario. Wario could see, even from a distance, that tears covered Peach's face. Wario ripped it out of his pants, now knowing what he had to do. He felt a pain in his leg where his treasures would normally go. "I...found this golden box...I think it's yo-" He couldn't finish his sentence. As if taking Sonic's steroids, Peach was already gripping his neck and squeezing it in a hug.

"Thank you sooo much, Wario!" Peach thanked. Wario felt the tears on Peach's face on his cheek. He froze; he was being crushed.

Peach let go, and gave Wario a small kiss on the cheek. As if trying to hide it, as soon as Peach ran to Mario to present the gift, Wario coughed, hoping the blush that had made its way to his cold face would go away quickly.

"Hmph..." Wario muttered, looking at the suddenly elated smashers, all playing with each other and their gifts. "Merry Christmas..." Wario sat down, exhausted by his jump through the window. He heard something choking, something breathing, but he didn't care. Even if it had to be on the floor, it was time for a nap. What he didn't know, was that Lucas's face turned blue under the crushing quarter-ton weight of Wario's buttocks. The smashers were all having fun when Mario caught a glimpse of the window, and his big blue eyes lit up with joy. The smashers all looked at Mario, though he hadn't said a word, only put his gift on a chair and ran to the window. For the first time ever, the smashers had seen, on Smash Planet, a miracle outside.

So it was on Christmas day, that all through the house, every person was playing, even down to a mouse. All the smashers were happy and all filled with joy, for every child and adult now had at least a toy. Even Wario the grinch who once hated the day, decided that maybe, just once, he could hop on the sleigh. They all lived happily ever after, no, nobody died, and it was Christmas day, and something happened outside. Dropping from the sky, it was something slow, they were big, white, sugary flakes of beautiful snow. The children all played outside, and had loads of fun, and the adults even joined, with no chores or brawls that had to be done. Well this story is concluded, I bid you adéu, and of course, on this holy day, God bless each one of you.

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I didn't think it was all that good, but keep in mind I wrote this in 2 days. Yes, I was on a tight schedule. I still hoped you all liked it! Hope you had a nice Christmas! :)


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